On Monday April 11 and Tuesday April 12, the Revolutionary Marxist Current
(CMR) organized two very successful public meetings at the Bolivarian
University. In the first meeting there were five hundred people and in
the second over four hundred. The audience consisted mainly of young
people, students and Bolivarian activists, but in both meetings there
was a fair number of workers and trade unionists.

The subject of the first meeting was “Workers’ Control, Venepal
Shows the Way”. The subject of the second meting was “Socialism in the
21st Century”. The speakers on Monday were Jorge Paredes, one of the
leaders of the occupied factory Costructor Nacional de Valvulas, Luis
Primo, of the regional executive of the UNT in Caracas and Miranda,
Ricardo Galindez, a leader of the oil workers’ union in Lara and editor
of the Marxist paper, Topo Obrero. The last speaker was Alan Woods,
editor of Marxist.com.

CNV workers with Alan Woods
and Pablo Cormenzana (CMR)

The response of the audience was enthusiastic, in both meetings. The
speakers emphasised the need for the Bolivarian Revolution to go beyond
the limits of capitalism, for the workers to follow the example of
Venepal and introduce workers’ control as a step towards
nationalisation and a socialist planned economy. This position was
warmly applauded by those present, many of whom feel that the
revolution has not gone far enough. The argument that it is necessary
to combat bureaucracy and introduce control from below got a
particularly keen applause.

On Tuesday there were just two speakers. The first was Comandante
William Izarra, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. Comrade Izarra
has been identified with the left wing of the Bolivarian Movement. In
his speech he emphasised that so far the Revolution had carried out
reforms but had not brought about a fundamental change. He likened this
to pruning a tree and picking the flowers, whereas what was needed was
to attack the roots. Socialism, he said, must mean that power must pass
to the people.

William Izarra stressed that it was impossible to carry out a
revolution while the old state apparatus remained intact, all the old
judges, bureaucrats and governors were an obstacle in the road of
advance that must be removed. These points were greeted with wild
applause and cries of “Power to the People” and “Power to the Workers”.
Comrade Izarra expressed his thanks to the Revolutionary Marxist
Current for inviting him and expressed the wish for the collaboration
of all genuinely revolutionary forces.

The second speaker, Alan Woods, was greeted with warm applause. He
is already widely known for his consistent defence of the Revolution
and also for his continued advocacy of socialism. Alan welcomed the
declarations of Hugo Chavez that capitalism is slavery and that the
Bolivarian Revolution must advance to socialism. Alan warned that the
counter-revolution was not yet defeated and that it was dangerous to
spread illusions.

He pointed out that the motor force of the Revolution was the masses
and above all the working class. He stressed that there was no way
forward unless the Revolution expropriated the oligarchy and
nationalised the land, the banks and the big companies under workers’
control. Those who opposed this on the grounds of so-called realism
were really the worst utopians. Unless this step was taken, the
correlation of class forces, which was very favourable, would
inevitably change. Workers would become disappointed and fall into
apathy. At that point the counter-revolution would strike. Either we
smash the counter-revolutionaries, or they will smash us, he said.

William Izarra speaking

Alan emphasised that although the Bolivarian Revolution had its own
unique personality and specific identity, it had to learn from other
revolutions of the past, especially the Russian Revolution. Alan quoted
Lenin’s programme of four points and showed that these were absolutely
relevant to Venezuela today. The audience was particularly enthusiastic
about the demand for the recall of bureaucrats and a limitation on the
salaries of all functionaries. When Alan cited Lenin’s demand to arm
the people, there were loud chants in favour of a people’s militia. The
workers of Venezuela are ready to fight.

After a lively debate in which different views were freely
expressed, analysed and criticised, the meeting ended in a mood of
euphoria. At the end, comrade Woods appealed to all present to help in
the building of a genuine Marxist revolutionary tendency in the
Bolivarian Movement, a tendency represented by the Revolutionary
Marxist Current. The Current has grown rapidly in size and influence,
as the success of these meetings clearly showed. The reason for this
success is quite clear. The Marxists are expressing consciously the
real aspirations of the workers and the revolutionary people.

On Monday April 11 and Tuesday April 12, the Revolutionary Marxist Current
(CMR) organized two very successful public meetings at the Bolivarian
University. In the first meeting there were five hundred people and in
the second over four hundred. The audience consisted mainly of young
people, students and Bolivarian activists, but in both meetings there
was a fair number of workers and trade unionists.

The subject of the first meeting was “Workers’ Control, Venepal
Shows the Way”. The subject of the second meting was “Socialism in the
21st Century”. The speakers on Monday were Jorge Paredes, one of the
leaders of the occupied factory Costructor Nacional de Valvulas, Luis
Primo, of the regional executive of the UNT in Caracas and Miranda,
Ricardo Galindez, a leader of the oil workers’ union in Lara and editor
of the Marxist paper, Topo Obrero. The last speaker was Alan Woods,
editor of Marxist.com.

CNV workers with Alan Woods
and Pablo Cormenzana (CMR)

The response of the audience was enthusiastic, in both meetings. The
speakers emphasised the need for the Bolivarian Revolution to go beyond
the limits of capitalism, for the workers to follow the example of
Venepal and introduce workers’ control as a step towards
nationalisation and a socialist planned economy. This position was
warmly applauded by those present, many of whom feel that the
revolution has not gone far enough. The argument that it is necessary
to combat bureaucracy and introduce control from below got a
particularly keen applause.

On Tuesday there were just two speakers. The first was Comandante
William Izarra, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. Comrade Izarra
has been identified with the left wing of the Bolivarian Movement. In
his speech he emphasised that so far the Revolution had carried out
reforms but had not brought about a fundamental change. He likened this
to pruning a tree and picking the flowers, whereas what was needed was
to attack the roots. Socialism, he said, must mean that power must pass
to the people.

William Izarra stressed that it was impossible to carry out a
revolution while the old state apparatus remained intact, all the old
judges, bureaucrats and governors were an obstacle in the road of
advance that must be removed. These points were greeted with wild
applause and cries of “Power to the People” and “Power to the Workers”.
Comrade Izarra expressed his thanks to the Revolutionary Marxist
Current for inviting him and expressed the wish for the collaboration
of all genuinely revolutionary forces.

The second speaker, Alan Woods, was greeted with warm applause. He
is already widely known for his consistent defence of the Revolution
and also for his continued advocacy of socialism. Alan welcomed the
declarations of Hugo Chavez that capitalism is slavery and that the
Bolivarian Revolution must advance to socialism. Alan warned that the
counter-revolution was not yet defeated and that it was dangerous to
spread illusions.

He pointed out that the motor force of the Revolution was the masses
and above all the working class. He stressed that there was no way
forward unless the Revolution expropriated the oligarchy and
nationalised the land, the banks and the big companies under workers’
control. Those who opposed this on the grounds of so-called realism
were really the worst utopians. Unless this step was taken, the
correlation of class forces, which was very favourable, would
inevitably change. Workers would become disappointed and fall into
apathy. At that point the counter-revolution would strike. Either we
smash the counter-revolutionaries, or they will smash us, he said.

William Izarra speaking

Alan emphasised that although the Bolivarian Revolution had its own
unique personality and specific identity, it had to learn from other
revolutions of the past, especially the Russian Revolution. Alan quoted
Lenin’s programme of four points and showed that these were absolutely
relevant to Venezuela today. The audience was particularly enthusiastic
about the demand for the recall of bureaucrats and a limitation on the
salaries of all functionaries. When Alan cited Lenin’s demand to arm
the people, there were loud chants in favour of a people’s militia. The
workers of Venezuela are ready to fight.

After a lively debate in which different views were freely
expressed, analysed and criticised, the meeting ended in a mood of
euphoria. At the end, comrade Woods appealed to all present to help in
the building of a genuine Marxist revolutionary tendency in the
Bolivarian Movement, a tendency represented by the Revolutionary
Marxist Current. The Current has grown rapidly in size and influence,
as the success of these meetings clearly showed. The reason for this
success is quite clear. The Marxists are expressing consciously the
real aspirations of the workers and the revolutionary people.